Time's Laughingstocks, and Other Verses

Within this anthology each poem works as a self‑contained dramatic monologue, giving the ear private thoughts of figures from a wandering soldier to a village maiden. Though drawn from verses written over decades, a quiet thread of love, loss and the passing of time holds them together. The opening piece, “Time’s Laughingstocks—The Revisitation,” follows a middle‑aged veteran who returns to the ridge of a lost love, walking through moonlit fields and recalling childhood promises. Other works such as “A Trampwoman’s Tragedy” and “The Two Rosalinds” blend wit with tenderness, while brief lyrics adopt voices of a dancing man, a cleric or a farm‑woman facing winter.

The listener hears vivid detail—a chorus of peewits over waterstone, flocks of conies across dry grass, ancient barrows on the horizon—that makes the English countryside tangible. Hardy’s measured rhythm and occasional archaic phrasing reward repeated listening, while each speaker’s honesty gives the poems an intimate, timeless feel. This collection invites a quiet afternoon with headphones, offering nuanced portraits of desire, regret and fleeting joy.